REPORT | Dons 16 Halifax Panthers 24

It was a tale of two halves for the Dons as they lost out to Halifax Panthers at the Eco-Power Stadium.

Richard Horne's side ran in three first half tries through Edene Gebbie, Watson Boas and Sam Smeaton and looked to be firmly in control at the break.

But the Panthers came out firing in the second half and ran in four tries to complete a turnaround victory.
Horne made three changes to the side that started in the defeat against York RLFC Knights a week earlier, with Pauli Pauli, Greg Burns and Tyla Hepi all handed places in the starting XIII.
Retiring Dons men Jason Tali and Ben Johnston both received a guard of honour prior to kick off, but the hosts then wasted no time before opening the scoring.
The home side went left from a scrum, and Craig Hall found Gebbie, who squeezed in at the corner after seven minutes for a four-point lead.
The Dons were in again four minutes later as Johnston kicked through for Boas, who grounded in the goal area. Connor Robinson added the extras.
Johnston almost found himself in shortly after, but he was stopped just short after throwing a dummy out to the right.
Horne's men dictated the tempo in the first half, but they only managed to next mark the scoresheet on 36 minutes. Johnston disguised a short pass to his right and found Smeaton, who spotted the gap to power through and score. Robinson converted to give the Dons a 16-0 lead at the interval.
The Panthers, chasing fifth place in the Betfred Championship, came out looking for a response from the restart and started making inroads after 48 minutes.
Benjamin Tibbs pounced on a loose ball inside his own half and ran the length of the pitch to score his side's first try of the afternoon on the left. Jack Hansen added the extras.
Johnston came close to ending his career with a try again on 53 minutes, as he found himself with the ball in the goal area, but the referee pulled play back for a forward pass.
Halifax made the most of that reprieve four minutes later as the ball bounced favourably for the visitors underneath the sticks, where Maxime Jobe managed to get a hand to the ball to ground over the line. Louis Jouffret successfully converted from in front of the posts to suddenly bring the visitors within four points.
The Panthers continued their fight back five minutes later and took the lead for the first time. Jouffret threw a dummy out to the left and cut through the Dons' line to score to the left of the posts. Hansen converted.
The away side had the momentum and scored again on 69 minutes. A Crossfield kick was knocked back to Charlie Graham, who touched down in the right-hand corner. Hansen again successfully converted.
The Dons threw everything at it in the remaining time in search of a response, and Gebbie went close with a dive at the left-hand corner in the final minute of the game, but it wasn't to be as Halifax held out with Ronan Dixon sin-binned for the final play of the match.
The result sees the Dons finish the 2025 campaign in eighth place with 22 points from 24 games.
Dons: Hall, Lyne, Boas, Hey, Gebbie, Johnston, Robinson, Pauli, Burns, Matagi, Jones, Smeaton, Hepi. Interchanges: Knowles, Misky, Johnson, Mafi.